Respite Care

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were waiting for respite care in each health trust area in Northern Ireland as of 1 March; and how many of those have been waiting  (a) 0-3,  (b) 3-5,  (c) 6-9,  (d) 10-12,  (e) 13-16 and  (f) longer than 16 months.

Paul Goggins: Information on the total number of people waiting for respite care is not available centrally. Information is, however, available on the number of adults waiting for respite care at 31 December 2006 (the latest date for which such information is available) and is shown, according to the time bands for which the information is collected, in the following table.
	
		
			   Length of time waiting for respite care 
			  Health and Social Services Trust  Under 1 month  1 month - under 3 months  3 months - under 6 months  6 months - under 12 months  12 months and over  Total 
			 Down Lisburn 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 North and West Belfast 8 14 10 2 2 36 
			 South and East Belfast 0 1 2 1 0 4 
			 Ulster 1 0 8 4 2 15 
			 Causeway 13 3 10 12 3 41 
			 Home first 1 1 0 15 0 17 
			 Armagh and Dungannon 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge 4 3 0 0 6 13 
			 Newry and Moume 0 0 0 6 4 10 
			 Foyle 3 2 4 12 2 23 
			 Sperrin Lakeland 13 0 0 0 13 13 
			 Northern Ireland Total 43 24 34 52 19 172 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are provisional. 2. The information applies to any adult who has been assessed to be in need of respite care, and who has not yet received their first respite break. The length of time waiting is the length of time between the identification of need for respite care and the end of the quarter. 3. Adults are defined as persons aged 18 and over.